When composer Franz Joseph Haydn, the father of the "Wiener Klassik," returned to Austria from his second concert tour to England, he set out to write an Imperial Anthem (Kaiser Hymn) for Franz II, the last Kaiser of "das Heilige Römische Reich Deutscher Nation / Holy Roman Empire." Haydn had been impressed by the solemn beauty of "God save the King." "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" was first played on February 12, 1797. (Carl Czerny version). With several text variations it served as the Austrian anthem until the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918 (end of World War I) and again from 1929-1938 (Austria reunited with Germany).

The "Deutschlandlied," combined Haydn's melody with lyrics by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1841). Fallersleben (1798-1874) wrote many other well-known songs. At that time, some 30 small German states had been loosely united in the "Deutscher Bund" (German Federation) since 1815.

The first President of the "Weimar Republic" (=Germany), Friedrich Ebert, officially introduced the "Deutschlandlied" as the National Anthem in 1922. It had been an unofficial national anthem in the second half of the 19th century.

Banned after WW II, in May, 1952, the third stanza of the "Deutschlandlied" was proclaimed the anthem of the Federal Republic of Germany by President Theodor Heuss. Austria, on the other hand, in 1946 had elected a Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart melody of 1791 combined with Paula Preradovic's text of 1947 for its new national anthem.